nVidia introduced theVideo Processing Engine or VPE with the GeForce 4 MX.[1] It is a feature of nVidia's GeForce graphics processor line that offers dedicated hardware to offload parts of the MPEG2 decoding and encoding. The GeForce Go FX 5700 rolled out the VPE 3.0. The VPE later developed into nVidia'sPureVideo.
5 Horizontal x 3 Vertical Taps Scaling & Filtering
Independent Hardware Color Enhancements and Digital Vibrance Control
Component out supporting 720i and 1080i
master sync generator to control the sync levels
interlacer to output 480i and 1080i interlaced modes and a TV encoder, which operates in digital-to-analogue converter (DAC) mode withTri Level Sync. VPE supports the first two of these element and all that is required to ship a graphics board capable of YPrPb output is a TV encoder that supports tri-level sync, and to replace the 4-Pin S-Video connector with a 9 pin.
The VPE SIP core needs to be supported by thedevice driver. The device driver provides one or multipleinterfaces, like e.g.VDPAU,VAAPI orDXVA. One of this interfaces is then used by end-user software, like e.g.VLC media player orGStreamer, to access the VPE hardware and make use of it.
Nvidia'sproprietary device driver is available for multiple operating systems and support for VPE has been added to it. Additionally, afree device driver namednouveau is available. This driver also supports the VPE hardware.
